Should I switch to C++ for DSA, or stick with Python?

If Python is the language you can think most clearly in, use it to learn the ideas. DSA is about choosing and reasoning about structures and algorithms, not about one particular syntax. Check what your course and exams allow, then avoid splitting your attention unless there’s a specific reason.

I’d follow the language your university teaches or expects for assignments first. Java is a perfectly reasonable choice for DSA, and it gives you practice with types and object-oriented code. You don’t need to add C++ just because someone says it’s more fundamental.

C++ can be worthwhile if you want to learn it for other goals, or simply want another language challenge. Just don’t treat DSA as a requirement to manually manage memory. Modern C++ has tools and conventions for handling resources safely, and learning those is a separate task from understanding trees, graphs, or sorting.

For exams, use whichever language you’re allowed to write quickly and accurately. For practice, you can implement an idea in a second language now and then, but doing every problem twice may slow down your progress more than it helps.